In fear of throwing more fuel on the 2-meter debate I had to reply to the GPS group. When I came back to the hobby of RC flying, after my single channel Cox powered days in high school, soaring was what intrigued me. My college buddy and I were amazed at what could be done with an un-powered RC airplane.
Having limited funds, keep in mind a four channel radio cost approximately $200, he started with a Mark's Models Wanderer, a 2-meter, and I started with a short lived Cox Sportavia. I wanted to get in the air quick, poor choice. We were also trying to teach ourselves to fly, another poor choice. However, after the demise of the Sportavia, I bought from a person at work an old White Trash for very little money. It was an unlimited ship and it was trashed or should I say well used? To a novice it was some what intimidating to fly such a large airplane. But, since I had little invested, which was the key take-away, I was not as concerned. The White Trash flew without much trouble, even though it was UGLY, but it was what got me hooked on thermal flying. I flew my first thermal flights with it before the gorilla high start a friend donated to us gave me my first experience of spar failure on launch. My buddy's Wanderer also eventually succumbed to launch over exuberance. While flying the White Trash my buddy and I were both building examples of Mark's Models Wanderer '99's. Once completed both of our less than unlimited size airplanes flew for many years and taught us how to fly. I rue the fact that the Standard and Modified Standard class died. My belief is that they were an excellent compromise of size and cost versus performance. The leveling factor is another element I thought was important. I still have two and fly one of the 100" airplanes I built in the early '80's. Flying an unlimited ship is great fun and I love my four examples that I have. But, I also have a 2-meter that I assembled from parts that performs very well, even though it challenges me in a different way. Hand launch started as an entry class and now has becomes almost as expensive as unlimited. In addition Discus launch requires a certain level of athleticism. RES has also become an event where bigger and more costly is better, most of the time. We need to still have an event or class that the novice feels comfortable in and not priced out of. Is 2-meter that class? I don't know, but I hope we don't kill it like we did the 100" class. Mark RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
